Rambling Back with Rip

By M.L. "Rip" Teal

October 15, 2004

We were through Eads a couple of weeks ago on our way home from the camp where we spent the summer. We really made a summer of it as we arrived June 8th and we left October 1st. It was a very pleasant summer weather wise as we had lots of rain and the weather was on the cool side. There were a lot of people to talk to and I did a lot of hiking so guess I was in hog heaven! I made several hikes up to several of the mountain lakes. Son Milton came and we made a 30 mile hike in three days. We did a lot of riding around on the mountain roads. Most of them were dirt and very rough. While going up highway 17 to the top of La Manga Pass we passed by where the Eads Hunters set up their camp. I went by and vested with them the first year we went elk hunting after we moved to Arkansas. Most of them were out hunting and I didn't know some of the young men that were there that day. I have asked around before about the history of the camp and they told me to talk to Duane Wissel. As we had some time I thought maybe I would run him down when we got to Eads.

We arrived in Eads a little after dinner time so the first place I stopped was the Kiowa County ASC Office. I walked in the door and the clerk came and asked me what I wanted? I knew she didn't know me so I ask her why any body would want to live out in this country. She looked at me, thought a minute, and said well it’s very quiet. I forgot to ask her for her name but we had a very good conservation. She brought me up to date on the latest news. All our copies of the Kiowa County press we had received all summer were still back in Arkansas. The people that own Taco Johns in Lamar camped in our park most of the summer. They received the Lamar Daily News and I would look at the total rain fall recorded in Eads so I knew that there had been rain in Eads during the summer. I asked the lady at the ASC office where I might find Duane Wissel and she looked at her watch and said try the building on the east side of the golf course and I'll guarantee that he will be there. I went out the door and cut through the alley and sure enough there he sat.

Duane said that due to a couple of bad knees that he hadn't played golf for several years. He still comes out nearly every day to keep law and order out there. The grass greens really look good. It is sure an improvement over the old sand greens. On the old sand greens when every body had their golf balls on the green, the person who was the farthest from hole had to find the rake and rake a path for every one to putt on. Of course, then he was the one who got to putt first. If he made a good putt every body else just put their ball in the same track and tried to follow the path right in. If it had rained the sand was packed down and the ball would roll too fast and jump over the hole and if the sand was dry the ball would roll slow and you wouldn't reach the hole and had to putt again. I'll bet it raised a few scores till they learned how all the grass greens lay and how fast or slow the ball would go. Duane said in 1968 they had a golf match between the Democrats and the Republicans. Otto Ebright and Bill Johnson were the Democrats players. Bill Culver and Ralph played for the Republicans. Seems like Bill Johnson and Bill Culver got into an argument over the score and Duane didn't remember who won the match. That would have been better than the debates they have been having on TV. Richard Burger had just finished up a match and both of them got to reminiscing about the early day Eads Hunting Camp on the North side of La Manga pass in the San Juan Mountains in Southern Colorado.

They thought the first year that they went was around 1960. The first hunters were Art Huddleson, Howard Hooker, Ray Baker, Gene Kelley, Pete West, Ivan Brenton and Edgar Jacobs. It seemed that Art Huddleson and Ray Baker had jeeps that they took along. Some how they came up with an old 17x34 army surplus tent they slept and cooked in. One morning they woke up and it had snowed 3 feet during the night and the tent was about to cave in. It took them 3 days to dig their way out to the highway. After that they camped a little closer to the highway. They said in 1962 or 1963 ten hunters went and they brought back 10 elk. They use to go across the highway into Spruce Hole to hunt back then. The trail or road in was so steep and rutted you had to have a jeep to get in and out. Several years back they did some logging back in there and they built a good gravel road going back to end of Spruce Hole. The other day I was back in there before we left camp. Muzzle loading season was on and there were 6 or 7 camps set up on the main road. There were lots of hunters all over the place. I shutter to think what it would be like during rifle season. From what I could learn most of the modern day hunters go over North West of Gunnison. We made four trips out to La Manga Pass to hunt elk after we moved to Arkansas. It was up in the late seventies or early eighties. My dad and Leroy would meet us out there. They towed a small camper trailer out that we stayed in. My dad was so afraid that it would come a big snow that he made us park the camper right by the highway so we could get out. The first year Leroy shot a 5 point, the second year son Milton bagged a 5 point elk that we had to pack out on our backs five miles. After that we hunted closer to the road. Alas, my turn never came. A friend of mine and myself came out one last time. We came in time for the last combination in November. We came out in an old war surplus Dodge Van, brought an 8x8 umbrella tent to camp in. The snow was deep and the weather was cold and we liked to have froze to death. We tromped the snow covered hills for four or five days and we never saw a thing to shoot at. I had bought both an elk and a deer tag. For us old out of state boys that was a pretty piece of change even back then. I thought how silly it was to spend all that money just to go out there, walk around in the snow and nearly freeze to death. So from that time on we have made our yearly trip out to the Rocky Mountains so we could enjoy the cool summer breeze, walk through the green forest and enjoy the mountain scenery. The only thing I shoot with now is a camera.

Duane and his brother moved to Kiowa County from Nebraska in 1931. He was not quite 9 years old. They lived 9 miles south and 1 mile west, across the road from Paul Barlow. They lived there 4 years and then moved 10 miles North West of Eads. They lived there till the spring when they moved to Eads.

Their Dad came out to Kiowa County where he bought half sections of land. One was north of Frank Weirck and the other south of Worth Lane. Their dad lived 18 miles southeast of Lincoln Nebraska. He was quite a strong man. He had an attack of appendicitis so he walked 2 miles to the railroad, got on the train and rode it to Lincoln where he made his way to the hospital where the doctors removed his appendix then he rode the train back and then walked two miles to his house.

Crops do look good in all of Kiowa County. If the freeze would hold off till around Thanksgiving there will be lots of good Milo in the country. The young wheat should do well now. What a Difference a good supply of moisture makes.

It had turned off dry down here in Arkansas after a cool and wet summer. Saturday a little moisture worked its way north from the tropical depression that was out in the gulf. We wound up with just over 5 inches of rain so this country has been wet down once again.

If any body has any one or any thing from the past they would like for me to write about please e-mail at ripteal@arkansas.net. Speaking for myself I will be so glad when the election is over. I don't know if either of the candidates will have "the know how" or the knowledge to solve all the problems and the dangers that face our nation now and in the days to come. The American People will speak and that will be our president and we will have to support him even if we didn't vote for him. If you have any comments please e-mail me at the above address - Thank You and have a Good Day!!